]]> When Nick Nurse was hired as the Toronto Raptors’ head coach last June following the firing of Dwane Casey, it was with the assumption that he would be an upgrade when it came to micro-level details, an area that Casey had, at times, struggled in. This confidence that Nurse would prove to be a minutiae master had stemmed from Toronto’s successful incorporation of a new offense last season, one that had prioritized ball movement and off-ball action, and that had held up to the pains and strains of playoff pressure.

Now at the helm of the club and just over a quarter of the way through the 2018–19 season, Nurse has already had his fair share of ups and downs, a typical progression for anyone getting used to a new job. Luckily for the Raptors, the ups are slowly becoming more regular than the downs, especially recently, and as Nurse continues to get a feel for his roster, picking apart what works and what doesn’t, it’s looking more and more like Toronto made the right choice.

While Nurse is constantly honing both his micro and macro-level detail management skills, and ultimately working towards unleashing a maximized version of this Raptors squad, there are already clear indications that his reputation concerning minutiae is not unfounded. One such indication has been consistent since opening night, and has certainly helped push the Raptors into the upper echelon of the league: After-timeout plays.

In a vacuum, these plays may seem small or even insignificant, but take a step back and it’s easy to see how much of an impact they can have on a game as a whole. Aside from the obvious (a sideline out of bounds play in the final few seconds for a game winning shot, for example), a successful play out of a timeout can expose an opponent’s weakness, can give the team running the play a burst of confidence, and can spark runs that may shift the momentum of the contest entirely.

Nurse’s Raptors, after exiting a huddle, play drawn up and ready to go, are one of the most lethal teams in the NBA, whether inbounding the ball from the sideline or baseline. Per pbpstats.com, Toronto scores 123.1 points per 100 possessions in these situations, second-best only to the Golden State Warriors, who score 124.1 points.

Interestingly enough, however, the Raptors also have a shot quality percentage of 45 on these looks, tied for third-worst in the league, per pbpstats.com. This isn’t shocking, since the model pbpstats.com (a fantastic website) uses to assume shot quality prioritizes things that the Raptors have a proclivity not to do out of timeouts. For example, the model assumes that better shots will come the quicker they are generated in these situations, and the Raptors rank second in the league in seconds per possession (18.9), meaning that they tend to hang onto the ball until late in the clock.

So, then, if the Raptors are ignoring the majority of the sensible components that make up pbpstats.com’s shot quality model, how is it that they are still managing to be so effective scoring coming out of timeouts? As one may surmise, it’s because the Raptors are, in a fun, off-the-beaten-path-type way, quite good at things that the model does not prioritize, or does not include at all.

Like most teams, Toronto doesn’t have a certain subset of plays they turn to when coming out of timeouts. Instead, plays are chosen situationally, which is part of the reason it’s impressive when a coach can consistently pick and choose what will work best at any given moment. Despite the numerous sets being used on a game-by-game basis, however, there are still trends that develop due to things such as personnel specialities/limitations. For the Raptors, those trends have manifested themselves in the form of short midrange shots and corner threes.

While most of Toronto’s shot attempts out of timeouts are spread evenly, from above-the-break threes (19th in the league) to shots at the rim (18th in the league), they are 10th in the league in attempts (22.9 per 100 possessions) from the short midrange. What makes the 4–14 foot zone special for them is that they’re shooting 51.5 per cent from there, good for second-best in the NBA. That shouldn’t be so surprising, with midrange snipers Kawhi Leonard and Serge Ibaka averaging the most field goal attempts per game on the team.

Here, the play is run to try and get Leonard a look, but it doesn’t quite turn out that way. Instead, with only two seconds on the clock, Ibaka comes over to screen Danny Green’s man, who rockets around the pick and catches the inbounds pass from Kyle Lowry. In the far corner Fred VanVleet is open, but time is limited, and there’s enough space for a solid midrange look with the Magic worrying about Leonard and Ibaka hanging around near the top of the foul line. So, Green squares up, rises, fires. Cash.

In a league that emphasizes three-pointers and shots at the rim, the Raptors seem out of place. And indeed they are: The league average percentage for makes in the short midrange out of timeouts is just 37.8 per cent, an attestation that shots from that location aren’t generally looked upon as ideal. Even so, Toronto has made a comfortable home there, and with the success they’ve achieved thus far, it would be surprising to see them move away from those types of shots.

More in line with modern league norms, however, the Raptors take the fifth-most corner threes (10.6 per 100 possessions) in the NBA when coming out of timeouts. They shoot only 31.2 per cent on those looks, but that’s actually a better percentage than three of the four teams (Houston, Phoenix, Milwaukee) that sit in front of them in terms of attempts. Other than a shot right at the rim, a corner triple is near-universally considered to be the next easiest shot in the game, and the Raptors have a plethora of guys (Leonard, Green, Lowry, Fred VanVleet, CJ Miles, etc.) who are likely to drain those looks.

In this example, Lowry puts the ball into play and then receives a screen from first OG Anunoby, and then Jonas Valanciunas. With the Wizards packing the paint in front of him, cutting off roll action and any chance he has to get to the rim, Lowry is able to spot Anunoby, who has since drifted to the corner, and makes a fantastic skip pass to hit him right in his shooting pocket. Anunoby pump-fakes once as his defender flies by, and then calmly rises and knocks down the triple.

If the Raptors don’t score on their initial attempt out of a timeout (they usually do, as they’re ranked second in the league in first chance points with 103.3 per 100 possessions), they’ll simply snag the ball again and score on a put-back. The team manages 7.9 put-back points per 100 possessions, ranking them fourth in the league, somewhat unexpected for a team that otherwise isn’t particularly aggressive on the offensive glass.

In this play, with Wright handling the ball again, both Miles and Ibaka come to the top of the arc to set screens. Miles then continues on down the weak side and screens Green’s man in the corner, while Ibaka waits to screen Miles’ man as the latter turns around. Green slips down towards the rim, and Miles pops back out to the three-point line to catch the ball. Without the proper space for a good look, however, he fires it back to Wright, who, after receiving an Ibaka screen, is unable to find his big man on the roll, so he instead kicks it over to Green, who by now has returned to his home along the three-point line. With the shot clock running low, Green decides to drive to the rim and put up a floater, which bounces off back iron before Ibaka, rising impressively over Nikola Jokic, snatches it and drops it gently back through the mesh.

If opponents have managed to keep the Raptors from scoring right away or from racking up second-chance points, it will likely be because they have fouled them at some point along the line. Toronto leads the league in fouls drawn per 100 possessions (36.1), and they are fourth in both free throw attempts per 100 possessions (33.7) and free throw points per 100 possessions (26.4).

Here, Leonard receives the inbounds pass from Delon Wright, and Ibaka immediately comes up to set a screen. Leonard rejects the screen and barrels into the lane, stopping short with Meyers Leonard hanging around beneath the rim. Intelligently, Leonard then pulls back out and isolates on the big man, pleased with the mismatch, before driving hard past him and using his strength to get to the basket. He just misses, but manages to get fouled. This is a simple play, but when you have a superstar on your team, sometimes all that’s needed is forcing a quick switch.

Simply stated: One way or another, the Raptors will put points on the board after a timeout.

Indeed, while the looks they generate may be considered more difficult because of their affinity for the short midrange, or because they hold onto the ball for a lengthy period before shooting, or because they don’t prioritize threes and at the rim attempts as much as other teams, the Raptors have still found ways to not only be effective coming out of a huddle, but to be one of the most effective club in the league.

Nick Nurse is still new to his position, and no matter the experience he had prior to taking over as head coach, will continue to need time to learn and grow to fully realize his potential, just as players do, just as anyone does. But if one were starving for substance, longing for immediate evidence that the organization made the correct choice last summer, all they would have to do is watch and wait for a timeout to see that the seeds are planted.

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/18/after-timeout-titans-on-the-raptors-post-huddle-plays/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/18/after-timeout-titans-on-the-raptors-post-huddle-plays/Morning Coffee – Tue, Dec 18http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/GQWsrOaHE9s/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/18/morning-coffee-tue-dec-18/#respondTue, 18 Dec 2018 11:24:05 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=96287TL;DR – 23-9; The Clippers are stalkers, but Kawhi doesn’t know anyone on the team; we are slipping in the power rankings; Kawhi and Lowry need to play better together. The Free Agency File: The Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard strategy and why it’s more commendable than controversial – The Athletic [paywall] The view from this vantage […]

The view from this vantage point? This revamped Clippers group — with the NBA’s richest owner $38 billion man, Steve Ballmer, at the top, the great Jerry West as his consultant, Lawrence Frank and his loaded front office, coach Doc Rivers and his rugged roster — is clearly going to do everything they can within the rules to up their odds at landing one (or maybe two) of the game’s greatest players. As well they should.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to outhustle the competition, especially when you’re a franchise that’s battling the lingering perceptions that come with three decades of dysfunction under the exiled Donald Sterling. What’s more, there’s a nuanced distinction that should be made about the difference between research and recruiting.

The former is fair-game, with teams gathering any and all intel (on and off the floor) that might help shape their eventual free-agency pitch. This involves scouting the player himself, constantly updating that file about his individual game and what sorts of teammates might eventually work best with his skill-set. This is even more pivotal for a player like Leonard, who played just nine games with San Antonio last season because of his mysterious quadriceps injury and is now adjusting to a new system and style in Toronto.

It also includes the periphery relationship-building that is equally important, learning who matters most inside said player’s inner circle and, in essence, what makes them tick. The gray area that comes with recruiting is where it gets trickier, not only because of tampering rules that govern such matters (albeit not very well) but because of the tougher-to-define desire across the league for some professional courtesy in such matters.

Yet the Raptors officials with whom I spoke, and who are hoping their mid-July trade with San Antonio to make him their centerpiece wasn’t a one-year rental, expressed no concern over the Clippers’ style. And if what transpired after that Raptors-Clippers game is any indication, it’s quite clear that this isn’t about getting Leonard to notice them or their efforts.

In Episode 437 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley and Vivek Jacob break down the Raptors’ losses in both Portland and Denver over the weekend. They talk about OG Anunoby’s extreme struggles of late, Nick Nurse’s choice words about the officiating Kawhi Leonard has received, and other stray thoughts from the two games. Injuries: they suck!

The real issue for this team right now and going forward is finding a balance with Leonard and Kyle Lowry on the floor together.

To call this an issue is probably overstating things. They have co-existed and done so successfully. The 23-9 record is proof of that.

But to say they have reached the point where it’s seamless would also be overstating things.

The pair did not share a second on the floor together in the past four games.

Leonard sat out the wins in Los Angeles and Oakland while Lowry was down for the losses in Portland and Denver.

So in terms of making any sort of progress in finding that just-right balance when the two are on the floor together, the trip was a waste.

Ideally, the Raptors want the two playing at their peak simultaneously.

The feeling around the team is this will come with time. So far the two most important Raptors have played 21 games together and another 11 when one or the other was out.

The team is 15-6 with both in the lineup and 8-3 with one of the two missing. Overall, they are winning at a .718 clip. With both in the lineup, they are slightly worse at .714. With one missing they are slightly better at .727.

In games (8 of them) without Leonard in the lineup, Lowry averages 21.1 points and 12.1 assists. In games when Leonard is sharing the floor with him (21 of them), Lowry’s number slip to 12.6 points and 9.1 assists a night.

PREV. RANK LAST WEEK THIS WEEK
2 2-2 IND, CLE, @PHI
The Raptors concluded their 2-2 trip out west banged up. Kyle Lowry missed the final pair of games — losses at Portland and Denver — with a thigh bruise, and Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet sat out on Sunday with back injuries. The Raps can take some consolation in Lowry’s return to form before the injury. After a lengthy shooting slump, the point guard shined in back-to-back wins at the Clippers and Golden State, converting 17 of 31 field goal attempts. — Arnovitz

1. Toronto Raptors (Previously 1st), 23-9 (+7.0 net rating)
I wonder where the Toronto Raptors’ ranking would’ve been if the game against the Nuggets happened before the rankings were submitted. Toronto missed shot after shot during an 18-0 run by Denver in that game. That stretch made it look like the Raptors were executing a perfect tribute to the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. No Kyle Lowry and no Fred VanVleet made the Raptors rely too much on Kawhi Leonard. Delon Wright and Lorenzo Brown had to overextend their roles. My god, they made Danny Green attack off the dribble so much. And Denver was happy to make CJ Miles and OG Anunoby beat them.

The Raptors will get healthy with their backcourt. And they’ll get Jonas Valanciunas back in a month or so. A fully healthy Raptors team looks a lot different than what we’ve seen recently, and they’ve still been pretty good during this stretch. Mostly, the Raptors need to make sure they have a more diverse plan on offense than ‘Kawhi, please save us.’ That’s where you need Lowry to be more of the scorer we’ve seen in the past. Toronto has months to fine-tune this machine before they get back to the playoffs to prove this iteration is above the past playoff failures of different star dynamics. This is still the top team in the Power Rankings, but it should be the Warriors again. My guess is we have a new number one next week.

Topping the Clippers and Warriors on consecutive nights was an impressive way to start a West Coast swing. It’s a shame the fans in Portland and Denver didn’t get to see just what Kyle Lowry brings to this team.

2 This isn’t the first you’ve heard this, but the continued development of 24-year-old Pascal Siakam has been one of the many keys for the Raptors this season, and among the most surprising to those who haven’t followed the Raptors closely the past few years. Jonas Valanciunas’ injury will put even more of an onus on the versatile Siakam during the next month or so. Siakam used to ooze potential but would often play recklessly. As he’s matured, you can see the game slowing down for him. He’s third in the NBA in true shooting percentage.

A 2-2 trip through L.A., Oakland, Portland and Denver isn’t bad, given that the Raptors didn’t have both Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard in any of the four games. Lowry got his shot back before missing the last two games with a thigh contusion, though it would be nice to see him shooting well (and aggressively) again in a game he plays with Leonard. Lowry has a higher effective field goal percentage (57 percent on 149 shots) with Leonard off the floor than he does with Leonard on the floor (49.7 percent on 179 shots), though the Raptors’ offense has been just fine (117.1 points scored per 100 possessions) in the pair’s minutes together. When the offense has struggled (scoring less than a point per possession) has been when Lowry has been off the floor. After that trip out West, the Raps have a couple of important games within the East this week. They’ve already played the Celtics, Bucks and Sixers two times each, but Wednesday will be their first meeting with the third-place Pacers.

The rotation and the bench
Much of the confusion and disruption is the result of injuries and absences for a variety of reasons, but coach Nick Nurse is still doing a lot of experimenting with groupings at this point in the season.

They’ve yet to come up with a consistent rotation that staggers the playing time of key components like Leonard and Lowry to ensure one of them is on the court.

The days of five Toronto backups playing together and dominating are long gone, so it’s up to Nurse and his staff to figure out a rotation and give it time to develop some chemistry to see where it takes them.

There have been extenuating circumstances and Nurse is playing the long game with one eye focused on the post-season and how things work in April, May and June, But players like certainty, or at least consistency, in playing times and roles and it’s about time to give it to them.

Some analysis: That record won’t mean a whole lot in the playoffs, where this season will be defined, if players keep bricking so many open shots. Under Nurse, the offence has run beautifully. Toronto is generating great look after great look. The problem is finishing the plays by making shots. It’s similar to how you can play great defence, but if you don’t haul in the defensive rebound to finish the sequence, all of the effort that went into getting stops proves meaningless. Nurse has focussed a lot on rebounding, but it’s not exactly his job to fix the poor shooting. It’s up to Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster to find some help. Everyone wants shooters, so it’s easier said than done, but C.J. Miles needs to be insurance, not someone the team is relying on (even if his career norms indicate shots will fall at some point).

Surprisingly, per NBA.com, Toronto ranks 10th in wide open (defender six feet away or more) three-point accuracy and generates the sixth-most number of those types of shot. That’s good. Not so good? The team ranks just 21st in open three-point shooting (defender 4-6 feet away). Worse still, when guarded tightly (2-4 feet), Toronto shooters have been awful, hitting just 22.9% of their three-point takes. Only three teams have fared worse.

So while the eye test says it’s just wide open misfiring, there are times where it’s been more apparent when opponents are close. Perhaps the most encouraging thing for the Raptors is by far the highest number of three-point attempts have been of the wide open variety (18.3 attempts a game vs. only 11.0 open and just 4.1 when guarded tightly). Those completely open looks are the aim and the team surprisingly hasn’t been as bad as everyone thinks on them.

That said, VanVleet nailing a whopping 48.4% of his wide open threes, with Danny Green and Leonard at 44% and Lowry at 41% are skewing the numbers up a bit. Others like OG Anunoby (31%), Miles (34%), Serge Ibaka (32.8%) need to be better.

It’s too bad that injuries are starting to pile up for the Raptors, but if you believe in things being due, this run probably was. Over the past five years the Raptors ranked No. 1 in the NBA in fewest man games lost to injuries (per instreetclothes.com) and that includes missing the fewest minutes to injury in the league last season.

The Raptors roster, as we know, is deep. But naturally, as they go further down the bench, their reserves aren’t quite reliable enough to count on for wins.

On Sunday the team was without three critical players in Lowry, Siakam, and VanVleet (along with Jonas Valanciunas, who will be sidelined for at least a month). It forced Leonard into a high-usage outing, which is generally a good thing given how effective he is, but with Delon Wright in the starting lineup (more on him in a moment), and meaningful minutes going to players who haven’t had many reps this season in Lorenzo Brown and Greg Monroe, the regular rotation players were sorely missed.

Another starter was C.J. Miles, who has seriously struggled this season. On the roster as a much-needed three-point specialist off the bench, Miles is shooting just 30.8 per cent from deep — the lowest mark since he was a teenager in the 2006-07 season. He has a quicker first-step, it seems, compared to last season, but has been a little too aggressive and forceful in trying to attack the rim, and has missed countless opportunities on drives to the hoop as he looks to regain his form — and confidence — shooting the ball.

But there were signs of hope, or an eventual turnaround, on the road trip. On Friday versus Portland he scored a season-high 13 points.

Miles has “been a shell of himself,” as Nick Nurse put it after the Friday loss in Portland, but the coach added that his performance that night was closer to what we expect from the veteran shooter. With Lowry and VanVleet out on Sunday the team needed another strong outing from the veteran, but he managed to go just 2-of-9 from deep for a quiet six points.

Undermanned as they were, the Raps were still in contention to win Sunday’s game against the West’s top team, and it wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that the Nuggets pulled away for the win, and that in itself is somewhat encouraging nonetheless.

So yes, a team like the Clippers should be fully committed to landing Leonard. At the moment, the Clippers have $48.7 million in practical cap space for the summer, enough to get at least one superstar free agent, but they will have options for clearing more space. Namely, the team can waive Avery Bradley and his partially guaranteed contract, freeing up another $11 million in cap space and bringing them close to $60 million overall.

According to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst, the team has sent executives to numerous Raptors and Warriors games, ostensibly scouting Leonard and Durant. And even if the Clippers can only land one of those players, they can use another max slot on Tobias Harris and bring a superstar into the fold on a team that has surprisingly started 17-12 and looks primed to make a run at a postseason berth.

One advantage the Clippers will have in their pursuit of Leonard is that it has long been rumored that the Raptors star wants to play in Los Angeles, where he grew up, and isn’t particularly fond of the cold. And while it might seem like a bad sign for the Clippers that Leonard doesn’t even know who Frank is, he’s always marched to the beat of his own drum.

Leonard has been described as aloof, isn’t particularly great at marketing himself and has acknowledged that he doesn’t have social media. If ever there were a star player who wouldn’t know a prominent member of a another team’s front office, it would be Leonard. It’s simply his personality.

Even with how well the Raptors have played, this isn’t much of a surprise at all. Throughout this offseason, when trade rumors were rampant, we heard often that Leonard’s preference was to play for one of the Los Angeles teams — either the Lakers or Clippers. Neither swung a deal, but that was in part because they can each chase him in the summer of 2019. After the trade happened a few months ago, we still heard that Leonard’s first choice was to play in Los Angeles next season.

This is just an unfortunate reality for the Raptors. Other cities are almost always going to be more enticing — especially when it comes to Leonard, who is actually from Los Angeles. But this factor is one of the main reasons why they made the deal. In free agency, there’s almost no chance that Leonard would have seriously considered the Raptors. But now, they have the entire season to show him first hand while he should stay. It may not work, but at least this way they have a shot.

Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/raptors-weekly-podcast-injuries-galore/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/raptors-weekly-podcast-injuries-galore/Foul or no foul, Kawhi Leonard won’t changehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/1gYr40XfcpU/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/foul-or-no-foul-kawhi-leonard-wont-change/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 19:02:26 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=96280Kawhi Leonard - when not being a flopper works against you.

]]>Soccer and diving are seemingly synonymous. As a committed football supporter, I have no qualms admitting that contact is exaggerated, not because the players are pussies, but because it is advantageous to have the opposing players playing on a yellow, have possession/free-kicks in dangerous areas, etc. Since there’s only one ref (and two linesman who are more focused on offside than anything else), sometimes one has to do some gymnastics to get the refs attention. It’s not cool to dive, but I can at least see where it’s coming from: if you can’t see me, I’ll do a Cirque du Soleil performance to make sure you do.

In the NBA, there are three refs concentrated in a half court. There is no excuse for obvious calls to be missed, therefore, there is little need to flop if the refs are doing their job reasonably well, which is why flopping has never been a major issue in the NBA (one of the main reasons we saw an uptick there is due to the circle/charge rule which was formalized a few years back). Players can turn to flopping because of a sense of injustice from the officials, often feeling they need to do something extra for their grievances to be heard. Kyle Lowry does that once in a while, but Kawhi Leonard will never do that. He wouldn’t even know how to do it if he wanted to. Leonard happens to, 1) believes that contact does not need to be exaggerated for a foul to be called, 2) being part robot, plays till the whistle, and 3) being extremely strong, can absorb contact without flinching. Unfortunately, all of this is currently working against him. Leonard gets fouled a lot and just because he doesn’t always react to being fouled, doesn’t mean he didn’t get fouled. This is a difficult concept for NBA officials to be consistent on.

Usually, superstars like LeBron, Steph, or KD (or going further back, Kobe, MJ, etc.), get the benefit of the doubt from officials on field goal attempts because they’ve have been primed to see them as scorers whose job it is to score in buckets. As great as Kawhi’s been throughout his career, he’s never had that role on a team. He’s currently averaging career-highs in minutes played (35), points (26) and field-goal attempts (19), and officials aren’t used to seeing him dominate the ball with the mandate of scoring. He was a cog in the equitable Spurs system which forced teams to pay attention to the wider structure. In Toronto, his scoring duties are far more pronounced with more possessions dedicated to Kawhi, so this version of the player is new to many, including officials.

On top of that, the stars mentioned are all vocal when they don’t get the call. They make themselves constantly visible to the refs and are media personalities as much as NBA players. Kawhi Leonard is amazing, but he is not visible. The refs will never view him in the same light as they do other stars with equal talent in the league only because he has a quiet demeanor – it’s as simple as that. I’d even contend that DeMar DeRozan, who was far more vocal, will get more calls from the zebras than Leonard on account of his body language alone. Leonard doesn’t have body language. He has a body controlled by an internal CPU which mutes any dissent and isn’t programmed to confront people in authority. So, it’s understandable when Nick Nurse comes out to make the atrocities more visible:

“It’s been going on all year. But tonight was a very severe case of a guy who was playing great, taking it to the rim and just getting absolutely held, grabbed, poked, slapped, hit, and everything, and they refused to call any of it. It’s unbelievable to me. It’s ridiculous. The guy is one of the best players in the league, and he doesn’t complain, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that, and they just turn their head and go the other way. It’s been going on all year.”

So what is a highly talented but quiet superstar who plays in Toronto do to get the calls he deserves? Not much, Kawhi remains Kawhi:

“It’s been like that all year, but in this era and how the game is and the rules are today, yes, I agree with him. It’s been very physical, but I just go with the next play…I pride myself on just keep moving and keep going.”

As Nurse mentioned, this has been a trend more than a one-off occurrence, which can give way to conspiracy theories – the below is right from our comment section.

I don’t believe there is a conscious bias by the refs here because over the years, the Raptors have gotten calls. DeRozan made a living off the whistle, and so did Chris Bosh before him. The ironic part is that both had success while clearly looking for the foul in a preconceived manner, whereas Leonard’s primary intention is to score, not get fouled, except when he does get fouled, it’s not called. My view is that a lot has to do with his sheer physical strength because when you hit Kawhi, you’re the one who feels the brunt of it.

There was one year when the Raptors sent a whole tape to the NBA outlining the mistakes referees were making in their games, and though there may not need to go to that level, Nick Nurse’s public comments are well-timed to remind the NBA that there is a superstar in Toronto that requires attention.

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/foul-or-no-foul-kawhi-leonard-wont-change/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/foul-or-no-foul-kawhi-leonard-wont-change/Breaking it down: Yay or nay to Pascal Siakam’s center foray?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/O0owKBOhanA/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/deep-dive-is-pascal-siakam-a-center/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 16:00:56 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=96235Breaking down every possession that has featured Siakam playing center

]]>Pascal Siakam wasn’t supposed to be a viable all-star candidate this early in his career, if at all. Siakam was very good last year as a skilled power-forward with the all-bench lineup. It was en vogue to suggest he would improve this year, but his level of improvement has been remarkable. Siakam is now a possible frontrunner for the Most Improved Player Award; his future is brighter than was once conceivably imaginable.

Within some corners, however, it has been suggested that Siakam is not yet playing the position for which he is best suited. Siakam is frequently compared to Draymond Green because of his defensive switchability; because Green’s dominance at center helped power the Golden State Warriors to multiple championships, it’s not a logical leap to want Siakam, too, to play center. Of course, Siakam is not Green on either side of the ball. But he has played center for brief moments this season. It has become a useable, if occasionally flawed, weapon in the Raptors’ toolkit. With Jonas Valanciunas sidelined for at least a few more weeks, Siakam may be pressed into even more center minutes. To study Siakam-at-center’s benefits and drawbacks, how and when it’s used, and how to improve the look, I’ve clipped every possession in which it’s happened so far this year. Let’s go situation-by-situation and see how the Raptors have performed when using a small-ball center.

Half-Court Defence

Switching

The Raptors usually switch everything with Siakam at center, and when they all communicate, they’ve done great at forcing difficult shots and lots of turnovers. Siakam himself has been the main reason for that. He’s terrific at moving his feet with jitterbugs and not falling for pointless fakes and jukes. When the tactic is working well, the Raptors’ entire defence shades with the ball, digs into driving and passing lanes, and stays one step ahead of the offence. They switch as an active weapon to force defensive possessions to stall out, rather than as a reactive response to close an opened advantage.

The first play of the video is one of the greatest defensive possessions of the season. The Raptors are happy to switch Fred Van Vleet onto players more than a foot taller than himself, but he quickly switches off-ball so that Siakam would be involved in a possible upcoming pick-and-roll. The Raptors zone up the weak-side so that one player is shading the ball-handler in the paint, and one is guarding two shooters close beside each other. The hogalicious D’Angelo Russell can’t get an inch against Kyle Lowry or Siakam, especially with the rest of the defence so attentive and shifting to the requisite spots.

The Raptors are happy for Giannis freaking Antetokounmpo to post up Lowry and Van Vleet at the 1:22 and 1:32 marks. Both result in double-teams being sent his way; the first from the baseline, and the second from the riskier first-pass away on the strong-side. However, OG Anunoby approaches Antetokounmpo both times at the correct time and angle when his back is turned, forcing difficult decisions.

Of course, Siakam can be beaten while switched like any other defender. He has been blown past a few times or been forced into unnecessary fouls. It’s rare, as you can tell by the brevity of the video.

One major issue of the small-ball defence has been errors in communication and tactics. Frequently, the Raptors have given up points because players didn’t know they were switching, didn’t recognize early what the plan was, or forgot some other aspect of the defensive coverage. Frequently, this happens when the Raptors are tentative, switch lazily, or use it as a reaction to the offence rather than vice versa.

In the first clip, Danny Green tried to switch off-ball onto a cutter who beat an exposed Lowry, but Lowry declined the switch. It’s hard to say whether the fault lay with Green or Lowry, but Green was predictably late in his recovery and gave up an open drive.

At :09, Siakam seemed to expect Van Vleet to fight through the screen. He hedged up high to slow the ball-handler, but Van Vleet had expected the switch and wasn’t there to recover back to his man. Siakam wasn’t prepared to defend the ball-handler for longer than a moment, and it resulted in an open drive.

At :28, Siakam seemed to be afraid of a one-second violation in the key. Centers usually spend so much time in the key that they can put down roots and start a family, but Siakam didn’t even station a foot in the paint. That was despite LeBron James posting up Anunoby on the other side of the key; it was clear that help would be needed. Of course, Siakam was late on the play; he needs to know when he’s the center and the last line of defence.

At :47, the Raptors overreact to Van Vleet defending Antetokounmpo alone in the post. Anunoby sinks too low to help and can’t recover to defend a triple.

At 1:05, Siakam forgets he is the center during a transition play. He isn’t ready to protect the paint when Delon Wright loses track of his man.

Rebounding

The Raptors have had a rebounding problem no matter which lineup is on the floor, but the issue is greatly exacerbated when Siakam plays at center. They bleed offensive rebounds at an astronomical rate of 50 percent, according to Cleaning the Glass.

Look, it’s tough to get a defensive rebound when almost every player on the opponents’ team is 2-3 inches taller than your player at the corresponding position. But most of these issues aren’t related to size or ability. In the first clip, Leonard goes for the block, which leaves Van Vleet to block out two players. At :18, Leonard doesn’t actually block out with his body. At :40, Anunoby doesn’t …catch the ball? At :50, Leonard unnecessarily looks for a block instead of blocking out Anthony Davis. These are fairly fixable mistakes that should be eliminated with on-court reps, much like the ‘miscommunications during switches’ section above. Lowry and Leonard are two of the league’s best rebounders for their position, and Siakam has improved this year on the defensive glass. The lineup should top out as average, collecting approximately 75 percent of opponents’ misses. They aren’t there yet, but rebounding doesn’t have to be as deadly a weakness as it has been.

Half-Court Offence

Pick-and-Roll

When Siakam plays at center, the Raptors remain a pick-and-roll heavy team. Though Siakam is generally the screener for whichever point guard is on the floor, they use some other iterations. Leonard is fantastic at creating out of the pick-and-roll, either for himself or others. Another great setup is the little-used 4-1 pick-and-roll with Siakam in the dunker spot, Leonard handling, and Lowry as the screener. Here are the pick-and-rolls that have resulted in good looks.

A lot of these are misses, but they are mostly great shots. This is important. The Raptors have only run approximately (I’m making these stats myself, so bear with me) 16 pick-and-roll with Siakam playing center, and they have resulted in 9 points. That’s bad no matter how you slice it. However, Anunoby, Lowry, and others miss some open triples, and Siakam and Leonard miss some contested layups. It’s such a small sample size that you can’t write off the look entirely and say it doesn’t work. It’s worth more investigation, but to date the offence has struggled in this setup.

Of course, Siakam has some room to grow as a screener and roller. Specifically, he needs to improve at keeping passing lanes open for as long as possible, as well as at holding his screens to create more space for ball-handlers. He can occasionally be frantic while finishing, instead of taking his time to work for the right look. If he occasionally alters his speed and learns how to short his roll to open up his passing game, Siakam could become an excellent screening big.

Here are the pick-and-rolls that have either not created an advantage or resulted in bad shots.

These looks are plagued by poor or no off-ball movement around screens, as well as very poor contact made by Siakam on the screens themselves. Dude needs to learn to hit people.

Isolation

When Siakam mans the center position, every player on the floor for the Raptors is happy to launch from deep. That spread attack means defenders are loath to help away on isolations. The Raptors use it to their advantage. Siakam and Leonard especially are terrific at attacking single coverages to manufacture easy points.

I may be liberally defining the first clip and :05 as isolations, but they are great, and they are created because everyone on the floor is treated as a shooter. A spread floor is a good floor!

Siakam dusts Anthony Davis at :20. I have nothing to add, but this is cool and worth mentioning.

Watch Van Vleet in the final clip at :29. He sees that the Washington Wizards – also matching up against the Raptors with an uber-small lineup! – are switching everything on defence. He begins to cut to the strong side to spread the floor, but then decides to loop around and run a brief action with Anunoby. He does just enough to force the switch between the two help defenders, meaning neither is responsible to sink into Lowry’s driving lane. This is very high IQ stuff, and it’s accomplished just by jogging to the right spots at the right time. He understands at a high level what defences are trying to do, and he uses that to create great looks, especially when he’s off the ball.

Notice how almost every one of these shots start with some small action, and even have a few off-ball screens sprinkled in during the isolation. The Raptors need to do something when a player isolates to keep the defence occupied and away from the ball.

However, the Raptors do have a tendency to watch the ball when a single player isolates. These attacks can grind into horrible shots, especially when there is no off-ball movement.

Not much to add here. Bad shots with little going on in terms of play-calling or execution.

Transition

Offence

One would think that playing Siakam at center would juice the Raptors’ transition attack. He is one of the fastest players in the league, and everyone else on the court can handle, run, and shoot. They could run opponents off the floor; however, that hasn’t happened. Partially because the Raptors need every available body to rebound, and partially because the Raptors have played most of their Siakam-at-center lineups in high-leverage minutes when transition opportunities dwindle, they have only taken 5 shots in transition or semi-transition.

Those 5 shots have earned 5 points and 2 free-throws. That’s pretty good! Siakam-at-center lineups have had trouble scoring in the halfcourt, and shifting as many of those looks into transition could be a way of easing those pains. The thing is, they don’t trust their rebounding ability if even one player leaks out, but it’s always possible to run after securing the board. The Raptors haven’t found a way to juice their transition game, but they should try.

Defence

The Raptors’ transition defence has been mostly sketchy.

In the first clip, Siakam sinks too low into the paint, for fear of John Wall dusting Lowry. He isn’t able to recover onto the man who was supposed to be his mark, and it’s an open triple. At :07, Siakam actually sat at the nail in transition, which is the correct positioning for a big. He was able to pick up a fairly easy block as a result. The Raptors’ defence is already at a few disadvantages with Siakam at center. Having to cross-match and recover would probably doom the Raptors’ defence; the lineup should probably eschew the offensive glass entirely to keep opponents from running.

Conclusions

The Raptors have been outscored 51-36 in the 39 possessions in which Siakam has played center. Needless to say, that’s quite bad. They’ve given up 7 offensive rebounds. However, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. They have forced 8 turnovers (for an unsustainably large 20.5 percent) and attempted more triples than their opponents, 16-12. There are some positives.

Being outscored so dramatically isn’t to say the offence has been necessarily worse than opponents’. Despite being outscored, the Raptors’ Siakam-at-center lineups have had higher expected shot quality, per pbpstats, than their opponents during games against New Orleans, Washington, and Brooklyn. The Lakers and Bucks (in two games) have had higher expected shot qualities in the other games. All that to say; the Raptors being outscored in these looks could be due entirely to random variance of missing good shots (and a few specific instances, particularly by the Pelicans, of opponents making difficult shots).

So we shouldn’t say the look is useless quite yet. If Siakam learns to adapt to playing center defensively – and all signs indicate that won’t be a problem – then the unit’s defence will be improved massively. Him hitting the nail early in transition defence, learning to sit in the paint for longer periods of time, immediately attacking ball-handlers after switches, and being hyper-aware of his duties as last-back helper would all be specific ways to boost an already-solid defence. He isn’t a world-beater on the defensive glass, but with Leonard beside him, they should be able to clean most misses from their opponents.

It’s worth mentioning that the Raptors gain little on offence with Siakam that they don’t offer when Ibaka plays the same position. The offence is terrific when Ibaka plays center. Siakam is certainly more talented in isolation, but he’s a significantly worse screen-and-roll player, which impacts the scoring ability of every other player on the court. Siakam’s playmaking hasn’t factored into the offensive side when he’s at center, especially because he always rolls at full speed towards the rim. If he mixes it up, occasionally shortens his roll and looks to sling the ball cross-court, or even pops sometimes, his passing will help the offence as well. Lowry hitting his jumpers would almost instantly make the Siakam-at-center lineup playable offensively.

The look has mostly been used as a defensive weapon. The idea is to switch everything, grind defensive possessions to a halt, and force turnovers. That has happened occasionally, particularly in some possessions against Brooklyn. Fewer miscommunications would allow the lineup to win its minutes against the right opponents.

Another detail is that the Raptors haven’t always been outplayed when Siakam plays center. They have been outscored by 16 points in 39 possessions, but not all of those possessions are made equally.

When the Raptors play Lowry and Leonard in those same lineups, the Raptors have outscored opponents by 3 points in 15 possessions. (That balloons out to an offensive rating of 115.8 points per 100 possessions and defensive rating of 100.0 points per 100 possessions). Leonard is irreplaceable when Siakam plays center. He supercharges the defence with his ability to guard anyone as well as Siakam, including centers. He is the best non-center rebounder on the Raptors, and he can stifle opponents’ entire offensive possessions with one thrust of his monster hands. On offence, he can convert ho-hum possessions into easy points, and his handling and shooting open up isolation attempts for Siakam against less mobile centers.

The best small-ball lineup the Raptors can put on the court is probably Lowry-Van Vleet-Green-Leonard-Siakam. There’s plenty of shooting, creation, and intelligence on offence. The defence is switchable and tough. It can outscore opponents, and it has, 11-9, in 12 possessions. Against other small-ball centers like Jarrett Allen, Markieff Morris, or Ersan Ilyasova, the Raptors should feast when they downsize. Perhaps not so much against Anthony Davis.

So is Siakam a center? Probably not yet, no (even if the lineup might work in certain situations). There are a host of skills that need improvement, but it’s a good thing that he’s been offered reps to work on his center skills; even when he’s not playing center, screen-setting, cutting from the dunker spot, defensive positioning as last-back, and defensive rebounding are valuable skills to have at his command. Siakam is not Draymond Green. He’s a much better scorer already, with better handles and shooting. He’s a much worse rim defender, shot-blocker, rebounder, and screen-setter. Siakam may not yet have the requisite skills to dominate the NBA floor as a center, but he’s already played his way into the borderline all-star conversation. He’s done it as a power forward. There may yet be untapped potential with Siakam as a center, and the Raptors could use the look in specific situations; however, it doesn’t yet project to be a useful look in high minutes. Good thing Siakam doesn’t need to be a center to devastate opponents on the court.

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/deep-dive-is-pascal-siakam-a-center/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/deep-dive-is-pascal-siakam-a-center/Poor Shot-Making and Incredible Effort – Raptors First Feel Good Losshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/g96YCbn9GhA/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/poor-shot-making-and-incredible-effort-raptors-first-feel-good-loss/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 14:00:21 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=96249The 4th and final game of the vaunted west coast road trip. A tough game regardless of bad luck or injuries, against the Western Conference’s one-seed, to boot. One more thing, the Raptors were missing Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Jonas Valanciunas and Norman Powell. There are no excuses in this league – none that carry […]

]]>The 4th and final game of the vaunted west coast road trip. A tough game regardless of bad luck or injuries, against the Western Conference’s one-seed, to boot. One more thing, the Raptors were missing Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Jonas Valanciunas and Norman Powell. There are no excuses in this league – none that carry weight anyway – and the Nuggets were also missing a slew of players. Gary Harris and the like didn’t suit up in the Mile High City, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say the Raptors were up against it.

This game was defined by runs. Runs that spanned across quarters, huge personal runs, every type of run you can think of save for Pascal Siakam’s rim-runs. Coming into this game, Nick Nurse acknowledged that the Raptors might have to get funky in this one. Losing Valanciunas and playing the massive Nuggets front-court is far from ideal.

“I’m gonna be doing a bunch of maneuvering. (Malone) may just put the hammer down and put his foot on the glass a bit and go. I think this will take us different places tonight. I can’t see us being out there with a second unit tonight. I think it’s gonna have to be a lot of subbing, re-subbing to try to keep some of the starters on the floor at all times. I’d expect us to try just about anything defensively tonight.” – Nick Nurse

The Raptors early work on Nikola Jokic was downright remarkable. Jokic didn’t score on Ibaka at all in the first quarter, as Ibaka pushed him off his spot repeatedly. When Jokic came rumbling into the paint to get after offensive rebounds Ibaka took a good bunch of wacks and the guards and Leonard came down to gang-rebound. The whole team was pitching in early, and even though I saw an annoying amount of volleyball taps, the Raptors came away with the lionshare of boards in the first half. This was largely on the back of Ibaka making initial contact anytime he met Jokic. Not to mention Ibaka did a terrific job of shading towards Jokic when Leonard was being posted up by him.

As the Nuggets were determined to run the offense through Jokic (naturally) the defense that the Raptors played on him was instrumental in the success of the first half. Holding the Nuggets to 39 points, but even better, they held Jokic to 4-10 shooting and 2 assists. The Raptors stalled out the Nuggets half-court offense with impeccably timed doubles on the ball and a terrific point of attack – Delon Wright.

As Nick Nurse alluded to before the game, Mike Malone might choose to put the hammer down. The Raptors didn’t allow the Nuggets the opportunity. This was largely on the back of Ibaka and Leonard who were sublime, but the Raptors whole team was active and engaged on the defensive glass. Winning the battle on the glass by 9 boards (28-19) in the first half was massive, and if any positives are to be taken from this game, this first half performance on defense and the boards was absolutely exemplary.

The second half was just as gritty, except the real ballers started to move the needle. Leonard and Jokic both overhauled their respective teams offense and tried to will them to victory. Leonard poured in 19 second half points and Jokic kept the Nuggets within striking distance until their bench could slam the Raptors reserves. For all of the incredible defense the Raptors played last night, their isn’t an answer to this type of shot-making:

Believe it or not, the Raptors second half wasn’t about a collapsing defense, or loss of composure. The Raptors were scoreless for 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Spanning parts of the 3rd and 4th quarter, and meanwhile giving up an 18-0 run. The 18 points that were scored weren’t even particularly egregious. It was the absolute void of offense that took up an eighth of the games run time.

While their has been questions about Leonard’s playmaking this year, and for good reason, he seemed quite reluctant to pass early on in the year. He was a stud tonight, and had he been surrounded by any type of shooters, the Raptors would have walked away with this win and Leonard would have had a feather in his cap. His teammates didn’t convert on the wonderful opportunities he laid out for them. Thus, the creation burden become that much heavier.

The Nuggets were incredibly physical with Leonard all night, his usage percentage was over 32-percent on the game, and he only took 4 free throws. I am not a fan of blaming the refs, but Nurse took a fine after the game for his comments, so I think this requires attention. Leonard is an incredibly physical player for his own part, but it’s not often I see him bowl into the paint out of control, and he certainly doesn’t push-off more than other star players. Last night’s game was full of the Nuggets hand-checking him, sometimes with both hands, and he was “seat-belted” numerous times when breaking through the first-line of defense. The Raptors didn’t lose this game because of the refs, they needed to make shots. That being said, I would like to see Leonard rewarded more often for taking the physical punishment he does. Nurse felt similar, per Josh Lewenberg:

“I do not understand why they are letting everybody play one of the best players in the league so physically. I do not understand it.” – Nick Nurse

Of course, the game really does come down to the 3-point shooting. The players everyone noticed were OG Anunoby and CJ Miles. As far as Miles goes, I have no explanation. His shot preparation has always been good, and the only gripe there could possibly be is that sometimes he pushes his range a bit far. He’s shooting bad, and I hope it comes back around. Otherwise, he can’t have a role on this team, and I would love a trade to bring Terrence Ross back into the fold.

As far as Anunoby goes, we’re only one month removed from this text conversation coming to light:

Anunoby: “Hey coach, how do I get on the floor in the fourth quarter?”

Nurse: “You need to defend and make shots.”

Anunoby: “I already do that.”

When this quote came out, we all took it in stride because Anunoby was that player. His sublime performance over the course of his rookie year was soft-core porn for all of us. Even though he’s had an up-and-down sophomore year, that doesn’t mean we don’t rate him properly. Obviously we do overrate him, he’s our large adult son, but there is a lot to like from Anunoby’s game. It’s also fair to say that a weak-side attacker like Anunoby has a simpler role next to a player like DeMar DeRozan. Leonard is far superior to DeRozan as a player, but there is something to be said about Anunoby’s role this year and last. He’s had to expand a lot of his game in a short amount of time – we’re witnessing the stumbling blocks.

At the start of this year, I wrote about how Anunoby’s jumper looked smoother. His release was higher, his pick-up point was higher, there was progression. He’s not this player and he’s not a future Kawhi Leonard, but he is absolutely going to be something that is better than this. His 1-7 performance from downtown in the second half was crippling. It’s most likely the reason the Raptors lost, as his 3-point shots were wide-open. When the offense creates those looks in a game this tight and low scoring, that’s backbreaking. However, hope springs eternal and Anunoby is as much a young starlet as he was a month ago. He’s got time to grow, and we’ll watch his progression with eager eyes.

Outside of the Raptors offensive struggles, Jamal Murray shook loose a few too many times. His 15-point fourth quarte looms large in the outcome of this game. After watching Jokic absorb so much attention, Murray made good on the space that he was afforded. He was 6-8 from the floor and displayed some fantastic shot-making. He outscored the Raptors by himself in the final frame.

All things considered, I’m not at all mad at this loss. Considering what the Raptors were missing and how they played, I have no qualms. Leonard was an absolute stud, some young guys took some lumps and will hopefully grow. Delon Wright was really solid, displaying some of his unique “amoebic” play. Some veterans might’ve made their need to be supplanted all the more evident. More than anything, the Raptors played hard, and as a fan, that’s a lot. Especially when we know that their ceiling is much higher anyway.

For me, this was the first “feel good” loss of the year. I feel as good about the team as ever as they return to the cozy confines of Scotiabank Arena. 23-9, first in the NBA.

One last thing for all of us to laugh/get mad at. I read a profound statement a few months back: “Think of anytime you read something in the media that you knew a lot about. Something you knew very intimately. Now concentrate on how many little things the person reporting got wrong.” Of course this doesn’t apply to anyone we like – we’re all too smart for that, surely.

Sam Amick had an absolute hum-dinger of a tweet as far as peddling narrative goes. Enjoy.

Man, these Nuggets are out here beating the Kawhi Leonard-Raptors without Gary Harris, Paul Millsap or Will Barton (not to mention Isaiah Thomas or Michael Porter Jr.). Best-in-the-West record of 20-9, holding Toronto to season-low scoring in 95-86 win.

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/poor-shot-making-and-incredible-effort-raptors-first-feel-good-loss/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/poor-shot-making-and-incredible-effort-raptors-first-feel-good-loss/Morning Coffee – Mon, Dec 17http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/wB6I70TCY3w/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/17/morning-coffee-mon-dec-17/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 12:09:25 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=9625723-9 (Raptors wrap-up solid 2-2 week out west) 10 things I saw from Raptors-Nuggets (Dec. 16) – The Defeated Engaged: Delon Wright got the start with both Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet sidelined, and he responded by playing with more energy than any of his teammates. Wright also showed a sheer determination for getting to […]

Engaged: Delon Wright got the start with both Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet sidelined, and he responded by playing with more energy than any of his teammates. Wright also showed a sheer determination for getting to the rim that is too often lacking. He’ll earn more minutes and a bigger role if he could play with this type of hustle every night.

“Tonight was a very severe case of a guy who was playing great, taking it to the rim and just getting absolutely held, grabbed, poked, slapped, hit and everything. And they refused to call any of it. It’s unbelievable to me. Unbelievable to me. It’s ridiculous. The guy is one of the best players in the league and he doesn’t complain, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that, and they just turn their head and go the other way. It’s been going on all year.”

It should be no surprise that Sunday presented an extreme case. Not only were the Raptors missing VanVleet and Siakam, but they were also without Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas and Norman Powell because of thigh, finger and shoulder injuries, respectively. At the best of times, Leonard’s space can get crowded when he holds onto the ball. On Sunday, missing three of their top playmakers, their best post scorer and two of their best perimeter shooters, the Nuggets had the greenest of lights to cheat off of Leonard.

How much validity you think Nurse’s claims have depends on your perspective. Before Sunday, Leonard was averaging 7.1 free throw attempts per 36 minutes, the second-most of his career. His free-throw rate was also the second highest of his career. Both trailed only his numbers in 2016-17, his last full season, when he was third in MVP voting.

“It’s been like that all year,” said Leonard, who had 29 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. “But in this era, with how the game is and how) the rules are today, I feel like I agree with Nurse. It was very physical but I just go with the next play. It could only get me ready for what’s to come. I just pride myself on keeping moving and keeping going.

“I’m playing the game so I’m not really digging in deep and seeing if (the whistle) was very tough tonight. (Nurse) is watching, being the coach, and seeing what guys are doing. But just some of my drives or coming off pick-and-rolls a lot or even just going to the basket, there’s a lot of hand grabs and bodying, which the rules say you ain’t supposed to do this year. But I take pride in just trying to think I can play in any era, so I’m just going out there playing.”

The Raptors were irate about the officiating in general on Sunday, and they certainly could have received more help. In particular, they were not happy about the technical fouls handed out to Danny Green and Serge Ibaka.

They had their chances to win the game, though, and the biggest problem was a common refrain: C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby just cannot hit open shots reliably. On most nights, Nurse can go to other options and sit them. On Sunday, he could not, and the bricks killed the Raptors.

Overall, the Raptors made just 7-of-35 3-pointers. Miles and Anunoby were the beneficiaries of 17 of those looks, and they canned only four. Miles is at 31 percent from deep for the year, and Anunoby just 30.

That deficit would not last long though as Toronto went on a 12-3 run to give them a 70-57 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the period. The game of runs would only continue as Denver followed with a 11-2 run to close the quarter and ultimately cut their deficit to 72-68 heading into the final 12 minutes. Denver’s latest run was sparked by Jokic, who had 22 points, seven rebounds, and three assists after three quarters of play.

After trailing by double-digits most of the third quarter, the Nuggets run to close the period allowed them to get within striking distance going into the fourth. Denver’s run would grow even larger as they began the fourth on a 7-0 run, which was capped off by a three-pointer from Murray to give the Nuggets a 75-72 lead with 9:50 left in the game. Another three by Murray just a few possessions later gave Denver an eight point lead as the Nuggets run grew to 23-2 and 12-0 to start the fourth quarter.

All the momentum Denver built up to begin the fourth only continued as the quarter wore on as the Nuggets still led 84-77 with 5:30 remaining in the game. That lead would get all the way up to nine points before a quick Raptors spurt cut the Nuggets lead down to three with 3:28 left in the game. Denver would continue to battle though as a Jokic floater gave the Nuggets a 92-85 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the game. A couple defensive stops and a few trips to the free-throw line was all the Nuggets needed as they found a way to pick up a 95-86 victory over Toronto.

Stat leaders for the Nuggets were Jokic, who had a sold night finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Jokic did all that on an efficient 11-of-19 shooting from the field, while also chipping in two steals on the defensive end of the floor. Murray also had a big night for Denver with 19 points, while Craig and Monte Morris also added in 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Nuggets now have a day off tomorrow before they are back in action Tuesday night at home to face the Dallas Mavericks.

The best team in the Eastern Conference came to the Pepsi Center severely hampered without four-time all-star Kyle Lowry, most improved front-runner Pascal Siakam and invaluable backup guard Fred VanVleet. Not that the Nuggets and their thin bench had much sympathy.

“My message to our team a little while ago was ‘I don’t care who’s playing for them,’” Malone said prior to the game. “I think what happens, when you start focusing on who’s out, you’re worried about the wrong things. We have a job to do. … Teams look at us right now with players out, I think they think maybe they can just show up and beat us. I think we’ve shown teams, no, that’s not the case. We have more than enough players that are going to go out there and battle and compete.”

Malone didn’t want to put a specific timeline on it, but small forward Will Barton, who underwent surgery to repair hip and core muscles Oct. 23, is getting closer to returning. Tuesday will mark eight weeks since his surgery.

“So, if it’s in the next week to 10 days, it’d be great to have him back,” Malone said. “He’s such a versatile part of what we do and I know. The hardest thing for guys like Will, for Isaiah (Thomas) is not being able to play. Those guys are gym rats. They’re junkies.”

Jokic paced the Nuggets with 10 points in what was an otherwise disjointed first two quarters. They managed just 35 percent from the field while the Raptors held a 47-39 lead. From Torrey Craig to Mason Plumlee, the Nuggets tried plenty of different looks on Leonard, who had 10 points and six boards in the first half. The deficit might have been larger had Toronto not turned it over nine times.

Denver kept pushing to open the fourth quarter while the Raptors missed on some golden opportunities. Murray had finally come to life and after he hit a three to cap a 7-0 run to start the quarter the Nuggets finally regained the lead. The Raptors had gone absolutely ice cold from the floor. Some of that was Denver’s defense and some of it was just incredibly bad luck. Murray was heating up on the Nuggets side, he hit a nice mid-range fade away and then buried a three to get Pepsi Center on their feet as the Nuggets lead grew to eight. Kawhi shook free for a dunk around the 7:45 mark to finally get Toronto a bucket in the quarter. Denver’s defense got a bit lax and they gave up some open looks from the perimeter but they were keeping the Raptors at arm’s length. They weren’t able to put Toronto away though. Murray had cooled off and missed a couple shots which gave Toronto another opportunity to close back in with the quarter going into the final three minutes. They pulled within five and it was clear the game was going to come down to half court execution. Toronto naturally worked the ball to Kawhi and the Nuggets chose to double and even triple team him. The strategy paid off when O.G. Anunoby missed a wide open corner three and Jokic knocked down a floater at the other end to put Denver back up by seven. The Nuggets still had trouble getting that nail in the coffin but time was rapidly running out for the Raptors. With 50 seconds left Joker got an offensive rebound and a put back which finally was enough to put Toronto away. Denver gets a huge win 95-86

Nikola Jokic, once again, led the way for the Nuggets, scoring 26 points on 11-19 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes. After struggling early, missing seven of his first eight, Murray found his shooting stroke late. He connected on six of his last nine and scored 14 of his 19 in the fourth. Torrey Craig continued his hot shooting. Following a career-high 15-point performance in Friday’s night win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 6-foot-7, 215-pounder put up 13 points, knocking down three 3-pointers.

“He’s doing what he’s supposed to do,” Malone said of Jokic. “He’s our franchise player. We’re committed to him. We believe in him. He’s the future of this team. Whether we have guys out or we have a full roster, we expect a lot from Nikola.”

Reserve point guard Monte Morris added 12 points, four assists and four rebounds off the bench and Mason Plumlee put up 10 points and seven rebounds to help Denver improve to 20-9 on the season.

“We knew had the whole fourth quarter left,” Murray said of his mind state when his team was down double-digits. “That’s a lot of playing time left and that’s not a lot of points.”

Leonard was nothing short of brilliant for the Raptors (23-9), putting up a double-double with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Raptors point guard Delon Wright contributed with 15 points and big man Serge Ibaka added 14 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 1:37 left.

With 21, the Nuggets dished out eight more assists than the Raptors and committed three fewer turnovers (9) than their opposition.

More vital than some help from the refs, Leonard could have used some help from his teammates.

The Raptors started the fourth quarter leading 72-68 and simply stopped scoring. The Nuggets grew increasingly aggressive, throwing more bodies at Leonard. He made the right play in pitching the ball to open teammates, the problem is no one could deliver the next play.

The Nuggets got exactly that as they exploded for a 23-2 run. Nikola Jokic scored 26 points on 19 shots while Canadian Jamal Murray caught fire in the fourth, scoring 15 of his 19 in the final period.

Toronto shot 1-of-13 from three in the fourth quarter with C.J. Miles missing all four of his wide-open looks and OG Anunoby going 1-of-5 on his. The pair have been struggling mightily from behind the arc all season and came into the game shooting 34 and 31 per cent, respectively, on ‘open’ or ‘wide-open’ threes, per NBA.com and those totals got worse as the game went on.

“In our fourth quarter we missed a lot of open shots,” said Leonard. “That’s when we have to hang our hats on defence and making the other team miss. It was just one of those nights.”

The Raptors did just that, which makes the loss more frustrating. Toronto held the Nuggets to 42.4 per cent shooting and won the rebounding battle 51-44, with Leonard leading the way there with 14 boards as he keeps adding to his career-high totals in that category.

There are no excuses – and it should be pointed out that the Nuggets were without two starters in Paul Millsap and Gary Harris and have played without key reserve Will Barton all year – but based on effort, the Raptors deserved better, at least in their coach’s mind.

“We played our butts off. We outplayed them. We outplayed them. No question,” said Nurse. “Tonight was a very severe case of a guy who was playing great, taking it to the rim and just getting absolutely held, grabbed, poked, slapped, hit and everything. And they refused to call any of it. It’s unbelievable to me. Unbelievable to me. It’s ridiculous. The guy is one of the best players in the league and he doesn’t complain, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that, and they just turn their head and go the other way. It’s been going on all year.”

Nurse may be taking a little license there as he strived to get his money’s worth on his fine. Leonard came into the game averaging 6.9 free-throw attempts a game which is 10th in the NBA. He averages .367 free-throw attempts for every shot he takes which is 18th, but not far behind the likes of Kevin Durant (15th) or LeBron James (14th).

But on this night, four three throws seemed low, even if the refs seemed happy to swallow the whistle all evening as both teams shot just 30 free throws combined with the Raptors putting up 14 and the Nuggets 16.

Unfortunately, we had to learn first-hand why there’s a reason Kawhi Leonard is considered one of the best players on the planet, because once he sat, the lead shrank to just four in less than two minutes time. So, onto the fourth quarter, up by four points!

You really hate to put an entire game on one player, because thousands of things happen that can change or alter the end outcome, but this game really felt like it could’ve been Toronto’s if they only had someone other than Lorenzo Brown to turn to at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth quarter.

Again, this isn’t on him — it’s not his fault we had injuries to the starting and top backup point guards, nor was it his fault Miles or Anunoby couldn’t hit an open three to save their lives.

By the time the Raptors scored their first points of the fourth, the final frame was almost half over and they were still down just six points. But with the way the game had been going and the way it had been played, you knew that points weren’t easy nor would they be easy to come by — especially in the final six minutes of a road game taking place in a city that’s five-thousand, three-hundred feet in the air.

The chances either team would hit 100 points in this game were close to nil, with the Nuggets 18-points away with fewer than six minutes remaining. So when Jamal Murray nailed a three to put the Nuggets ahead nine points with just over four minutes remaining — the grave felt all but covered.

The final pat of dirt on the casket came when Ibaka fouled out — along with a concurrent technical foul — with under two minutes remaining. Let’s leave this one where we found it folks. It was uneventful for long stretches; on average it was hard to watch, and at its best it was hopeful.

Kawhi led all Raptors with 29 points and 14 rebounds and was the sole bright spot on the evening.

Leonard was asked if Sunday’s game was any worse than what he has experienced this year.

“I’m playing the game so I’m not really digging in deep and seeing if it was very tough tonight,” Leonard said. “(Nurse) is watching being the coach and seeing what guys are doing. But just some of my drives or coming off pick and rolls a lot or even just going to the basket there’s a lot of hand grabs and bodying which the rules say you ain’t supposed to do this year. But I take pride in just trying to think I can play in any era so I’m just going out there playing.”

It probably didn’t help matters that most of the hounding of Leonard and clutching and grabbing was committed by Torrey Craig, a second-year player that has not been around long enough to get the benefit of calls.

But the Raptors could not blame all of this loss on the officials.

There was the 7-for-35 performance from behind the arc that played into this one in a big way as well.

C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby, two guys who the Raptors need to be solid from behind the arc were a combined 4-for-17 from distance. Throw in Leonard’s own 1-for-6 from behind the three-point line and Danny Green’s 1-for-4 and that is your four biggest threats in the long distance game going a combined 6-for-27 or 22.2% which is not a winning formula on any night.

A stretch from around the end of the third quarter going into the fourth, where the Raptors didn’t score a single point, also didn’t help matters.

With the loss the Raptors finish up the road trip an even 2-2 with a league-leading mark of 23-9.

Thirty-one games into an 82-game season — especially for a team that took a league-best 23-8 record into Sunday’s game in Denver — gives no cause to think there are any serious issues at play.

The Raptors have shown they can play and win at a fast pace, and they’ve shown they can play and win in a halfcourt game when Leonard’s skills and physical dominance are most useful.

All they need to work on is perhaps finding a better mix so that the switch from one to the other doesn’t catch any player unawares.

“We have to keep playing and flow and when it breaks down, get the ball to (Leonard) and still give him his touches,” Lowry said. “I don’t think it’s a situation where he hasn’t but he’s that talented where we’ve let him do a lot more offensively because he can do it. But as team we have to help him (and) be a little more assertive all around him, and make the game easier for him.”

Regardless of how “fast” the Raptors play or don’t play, there is no denying that Leonard’s unique talents make them better, and anyone who suggests otherwise hasn’t been fully paying attention.

Need a guy to get a bucket at a crucial moment? Leonard’s going to get the ball and everyone connected with team is fine with that. The other times? Each game presents its own unique challenges and, so far, the Raptors have accepted and met those challenges.

“His job is to make plays and score the ball as well,” Green said. “We are going to need that sometimes, most times. Especially when you are not shooting well or getting good pace or good ball movement you need to have a guy to give the ball to and say ‘Hey, get me a bucket.’

“He gives us that. It’s always an advantage. It’s never a bad thing. The game is a lot easier with him.”

Hitting a wall: It all went sideways for the Raptors toward the end of the third quarter. Leonard and Wright sat as altitude in the Mile High City started to take effect. The sluggish Raptors couldn’t get their offence going and the Nuggets took their first lead since the second quarter, as Toronto went 0-for-11 from the field until a dunk by Leonard more than six minutes after the team’s previous basket and Denver never looked back.

With 3:53 remaining in the third quarter, the Raptors held a 70-57 lead over the Nuggets. Denver proceeded to go on an 11-2 run to close the quarter, but Toronto maintained a four-point lead heading into the fourth.

Things went downhill in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets opened on a 12-0 run to take an eight-point lead and never really looked back.

Denver outscored Toronto 27-14 in the final 12 minutes of the game – Nuggets guard Jamal Murray scored 15 points (on 6-for-8 shooting) to outscore the Raptors on his own.

It was a rough shooting quarter for Toronto, as it went 4-for-23 from the field and 1-for-13 from deep. Kawhi Leonard (2-for-4) was the only player to shoot above 40 percent from the field while OG Anunoby struggled, shooting 1-for-7 from the field and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc.

The Nuggets, on the other hand, finished the final frame shooting 11-for-18 from the field and knocked down two of their seven 3-point attempts. Toronto saw plenty of quality looks in the fourth quarter, but an inability to convert is what ultimately led to the team’s downfall.

If there was any time Nick Nurse missed having three of his five players that close the game, it was down the stretch Sunday night.

This has been the push-pull for Miles as he has tried to find his rhythm. He is a shooter, so the idea is to shoot yourself out of a slump. It is fine to tinker with your shot selection if your 3-pointers are not falling, but it is never a good idea to get away from your strengths. When are you trying too hard, though? He is not an irrational confidence guy; again, he is a rationalist. Miles thinks about these things.

“Some of it is just me getting in my own way because you try to find that line when you’re in a slump,” Miles said. “You don’t want to overdo it. But at the same time, you want to let it come to you some and I got to a point where I was pressing, pressing, pressing. Then, I tried to back off and I backed off too far and missed some opportunities. Now, I just think I’m easing my way back into it. Sometimes you can’t run through the wall. You have to look for the weak spots.

“It’s just about finding (rhythm) and it’s on me too, to find some nights when I can consistently put some stuff together, and (that is how) my minutes will stay the same way. There’s a balance with both of them. Then, there might be nights where I’m playing OK, but Kawhi might be playing better. That is the problem when you have 14 guys playing extremely well. There are going to be nights where you are playing well and the guys before you have been playing good, too, and you have to get them back in the game. But I’ve seen everything. I have been here long enough.”

Averaging 14 minutes per game, Miles has not played less than this since his third season in the league. Even with injuries, the Raptors are one of the deepest teams in the league, especially on the perimeter. He has played double-digit minutes in each game in December, though, so it is not as if he has been buried on the bench. He has received chances, if not ones long enough to settle in.

Against the Trail Blazers, Miles found those moments: a 3-pointer in transition, a shot from his sweet spot in the corner and, early on, a dunk for his first bucket of the night.

Not everyone was a fan of Miles’ easy-peasy two-handed jam, though. Miles’ wife, Lauren, who supports and roasts her husband in equal measure on Twitter, criticized the dunk. Miles used to be a high-flyer. What happened?

In short, Miles had the kind of night he desperately needed. That it came in a loss was really irrelevant.

“He’s really been a shell of himself and that looked like him tonight,” head coach Nick Nurse said of Miles after the 128-122 loss to the Blazers. “He’s kind of inched his way back. I hate to say this but he hit a three late in a blowout game, I think in L.A. and that was kind of the start, played pretty good against Golden State as well, made a couple late in that blowout game and then he came in tonight and hit some good ones. Really got us back in the game there.”

It was Miles and Leonard, playing in his first game after a two-game absence, that led the charge late in the fourth whittling down an 11-point deficit with four to go to just two before the Blazers re-asserted themselves and pulled away.

But if this is the game that ultimately gets Miles back to being the three-point threat he was a year ago, then the loss will not have come in vain.

Miles’ situation was aptly summed up in the second quarter when he got a steal off a Nik Stauskas bad pass and had a clear halfcourt run to the basket without a Trail Blazer within 30 feet of him.

The running dunk he finished with will not make the highlights. He barely got off the floor, just high enough to nudge it into the cylinder. His own wife, one of the better Twitter follows out there, tweeted out “Weak dunk, bro.”

Miles laughed at the gentle rebuke from the mother of his child and the love of his life.

“What? She wanted more of?” Miles asked smiling. “It’s not the going up, it’s the coming down. But I’m not wasting my juice on that. Plus I wanted to make sure it went in, honestly. I’m not going to lie.”

There is no doubt Miles hasn’t been effective often this season, shooting just 31.3 per cent from three-point range — he’s a career 36 per cent shooter from beyond the arc in 14 NBA seasons — but there have been extenuating circumstances. He hasn’t played fewer minutes per game (14.3) since the 2007-08 season; he’s only getting 3.3 three-point attempts on average per game, the fewest since the 2008-09 campaign; and he’s working his way with a new group of backups than the ones he was used to playing with last season.

Those aren’t excuses, just explanations.

“The players I play with have been different every time because I have been in and out. It’s just about finding (opportunities) and it’s on me too, to find some nights where I can consistently put some stuff together and then the more my minutes will stay the same way,” he said.

“There’s a balance with both of them. Then there might be nights where I’m playing OK, but Kawhi (Leonard) might be playing better. That is the problem when you have 14 guys playing extremely well.

“There are going to be nights where you are playing well and the guys before you have been playing good too and you have to get them back in the game. But I’ve seen everything. I have been here long enough.”

There have been signs of late that Miles and his teammate are is starting to figure things out, and he’s having a greater impact on the game.

In Friday’s loss in Portland, he had a season-high 10 field-goal attempts. He made as many three-pointers (three) as he has in any game this season and played 19:38, the second-longest run he’s had in a game this season.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BreLyKEg_5W/

Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com

]]>https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/16/raptors-nuggets-reaction-podcast-one-of-those-nights/feed/0https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/16/raptors-nuggets-reaction-podcast-one-of-those-nights/Quick Reaction: Raptors 86, Nuggets 95http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RaptorsRepublic/~3/LUaIVlloU2c/
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2018/12/16/quick-reaction-raptors-86-nuggets-95/#respondMon, 17 Dec 2018 03:20:34 +0000https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=96246Tough. Danny Green’s grade isn’t in the graphic – He was wily as ever on defense and did a lot of the tertiary playmaking tonight. Attacked close-outs, put Jamal Murray in tough positions in the post, and missed a few more shots than we liked. The grade for him is a “B”. Toronto 86 Final […]

]]>Tough. Danny Green’s grade isn’t in the graphic – He was wily as ever on defense and did a lot of the tertiary playmaking tonight. Attacked close-outs, put Jamal Murray in tough positions in the post, and missed a few more shots than we liked. The grade for him is a “B”.

His compete level is as high as ever and he’s trying his darndest. With that being said, he’s utilized as a shooter, and he hasn’t brought that outside of 1 game this year. Disappointing to see him put up bricks in a game like this.

Couldn’t be anything besides an A+. He was tireless scoring the ball against a defense that only cared about him. His defense in the post was incredible and his effort on the glass was far above anyone else in this game. He’s a major star.

End of the game wasn’t particularly fun to watch – I don’t think he deserved the tech. He was awesome tonight, his defense at the rim was unparalleled. He held the Nuggets big men in check whenever he was on the court. He was really, really good.

He’s been tough to watch for a large part of this season and this game was no different. Having him build a brickhouse from downtown was excruciating. Kawhi put on his playmaker cap, and Anunoby wasted a lot of possessions. He also has the body to make a difference on the glass and I’d like to see more of that if the shot is missing.

Had an awesome first half. Loved when he snaked the pick n’ roll before spraying to OG for a triple. The second half was completely different, there was no energy in the ball and his lack of creation was a death sentence for the bench’s offense.

He spoke about getting weird and creative before the game. I liked his rotations, and for the millionth time this year, he isn’t capable of making these guys make shots. His offense and the players seem to be creating great looks, but the shot-making was sub-par. Liked the way he called the game, honestly. Terrific defensive game-plan.

Things We Saw

So. Much. Gang. Rebounding. The Raptors, and especially Leonard deserve credit in this one. The team was incredibly active around the rim and their effort there made this game as close as it was.

Jokic hit a layup in this one where his back was turned to the basket and it looked like he was playing “ball in a cup”. He’s an absurdly creative player, and a joy to watch. He’s the antithesis of anything you might think would work in the NBA, but man, he’s terrific.

We need some good health to come our way. This was a slog-fest that Leonard’s offense and the team’s superb defense forced into a close game. Short on creators, and even shorter on shot-makers. Lowry & co. can’t come back soon enough.

]]>That foul on Pascal Siakam against Portland. When it happened, William Lou lost his mind and stared down patrons at Betty’s looking to avenge Paskal’s fall, perhaps even calling for a public execution via guillotine. On the other end, a calm and composed Andrew Damelin muttered, “Meh, it’s a common foul”. After various reviews, the latter upped his review of the incident to a flagrant one, but not without the caveat of referencing the play through the lense of the 90s, where it was 100% a common foul.

There’s no debate on how much the NBA has changed, and seeing different generations view the same play, some with the benefit of history, and others with a more modern viewpoint supplied by youth in vastly different ways, is thoroughly refreshing. Sports has always been a continuum where transitions happen seamlessly and almost invisibly. Mindsets change and perceptions are altered, kind of like being on magic mushrooms.

Chris Bosh was another guy that history misplaced. The calls for Chris Bosh to gain 20 pound and post-up guys were loud (including myself), because that’s what you were supposed to do with a PF. Bosh loved the jumper. The jumper didn’t love Bosh. That didn’t deter Bosh from loving the jumper. Eventually, she said yes and Bosh became a transitional, maybe even a transcendental player. Some might say he’d be MVP in a league like today. In his Toronto days, he was being asked to move closer to the basket when the game was moving away from it. Few recognized that shift until after it happened. That’s just how things go. Those who recognized it and pushed for it are innovators.

The narrative that Bosh couldn’t carry a team was also strong, and often held against him. The narrative was true, and also unfair. Not many can do that. Of all the Raptors stars to date, Chris Bosh played harder and more consistent than all of them.

We’re now seeing guys like Brook Lopez and Jonas Valanciunas transform their game with good results. For JV, the transition probably started a year or two too late, but to his credit, he’s committed to it. It’s hard to reinvent yourself in any profession, and perhaps professional sports is the most difficult – acquiring physical skills midway through your career when you’re conditioned to a certain style is daunting. Lopez and Valanciunas, the former also motivated by a contract and the latter by sheer will to be better, need to be given tremendous credit for inspecting and adapting. If there’s one guy on this team that’s willing to do anything for the team, it’s Valanciunas. He doesn’t care about stats, minutes or starting. Just helping the team. It’s how he was raised, how he played in Eastern Europe, it’s what his coaches instilled in him. It’s an unshakeable and underappreciated quality.

Kyle Lowry is shit. Kyle Lowry is awesome. Kyle Lowry is hurt. Kyle Lowry is a choker. Kyle Lowry is The Raptors. Getting torched by Jrue Holiday, D’Angelo Russell, and Malcolm Brogdon doesn’t change that. There’s an intangible in Lowry that the Raptors can’t do without. I can’t describe it. He’s the connective tissue that keeps this organism alive. As much as from a talent perspective there are better options, something (which I also can’t describe) says that without him the Raptors crumble. Maybe it’s the years of sweat that he’s already poured into the franchise that have to account for something. It surely can’t end like this. Without a product at the end. There has to be a product. A meaningful one which we can remember fondly. It can’t be a sweep, or getting blocked in Game 7. There has to be something else before this story ends and it has to be memorable for the right reasons. It simply has to.

More Andrew Damelin insights – Chris Boucher has a chance. Leave the stats aside, leave the G-League domination to the side, what I liked hearing about him is this: when he gets challenged by guys trying to take him up in the D-League, the guy relishes the response. And responds. He doesn’t back down. Contrast this with Bruno Caboclo, all the potential in the world but with the will of a wilting water lily. Stacking up on athletic types with wingspans and speed has always been a thing to do, overlaying those types with talent has been tricky. The Raptors have them in abundance and Boucher just may be a supplement to the potential (and eventual?) Siakam/OG/Fred rebuild. My money’s on him.

The quality of television analysis provided by Sportsnet and TSN remains disappointing. The same old faces relaying the same old messages. Three keys to the game? Offensive, defense, and rebounding? So braindead that it’s insulting to the viewer. It’s not for lack of supply of good analysts, though. There’s plenty of people who should be up for a chance – on the newspaper and television side. Much like we reset rosters and do a re-build, the same should be done on the media coverage side. The fans deserve it.

I’m not thinking about whether Kawhi will stay or go. Question becomes why I don’t think about Kawhi staying or going. In the past I’d been obsessed about whether Damon, T-Mac, Vince, or Bosh would re-sign or not. What’s different now? Three things: 1) As cliche as it sounds, it’s living in the moment and enjoying what you have, and since what you have is very enjoyable, it makes it easier to enjoy it and not worry about the future – kind of like being on magic mushrooms, 2) The team actually, for the first time ever, being a legitimate contender to go to the NBA finals which mutes out the uncertainty and replaces it with a focus on a short-term goal, and 3) The security that if things don’t work out, there’s still a healthy core to fall back on.

Enjoy your Sunday and the game tonight. If you’re into podcasts, subscribe to the Rapcast wherever you get your podcasts, and check the latest one from the Christmas Party.

The Raptors, with Kyle Lowry, had a valiant comeback attempt in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter fall short as the Trail Blazers earned a well fought home win.

The Raptors seemingly couldn’t find a rhythm on both ends of the floor, and constantly hurt themselves with empty possessions or defensive mistakes that either stymied one of their runs, are started a Portland run.

Defensively, the Raptors gave up 9 offensive rebounds in the first half, struggled to cover the ball in 1 on 1 situations, and far too often were un-fundamental defensively (i’ll go into more detail about these “un-fundamental” errors below).

With no Lowry in this game, the Raptors struggled to find themselves offensively and had many more “empty” possessions than they are used to. Their high shooting percentage kept them in the game, and their hot shooting in the late 4th kept the game within reach, but the Raptors never were comfortable offensively.

Defense

As technical as the NBA game can be, with much talk and analysis about the X’s and O’s, that aspect of that game will always be overcome by the mentality and approach a team has coming into a game.

For whatever reason, be it a west coast road trip, no Lowry, or 2 great road wins, the Blazers were more mentally prepared for a hard fought battle than the Raptors were at the start of the game.

An example of this is the offensive rebounds that occurred in the first half:

You can tell from these clips above, the Portland came into the game with an aggressiveness that the Raptors had to adapt to. The Raptors took the first blow and spent the rest of the game matching Portland’s aggression rather than imposing their will on the game, which is both unlike the Raptors, and makes winning a game much more difficult.

Defensive Fundamentals

Unlike the Warriors game in which the Raptors had a very clear, and unique defensive game plan, they didn’t do anything special against the Blazers. Instead, they decided that they could do a good job defensively by sticking with their basic defensive principles, or what I refer to as their defensive fundamentals.

The Blazers have two main scoring threats in CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard, who both score mainly off of off-ball screens and by using the ball screen – both of which the Raptors chose to handle fundamentally.

Further to that, the Raptors continued to deny one pass away when possible, build help at the nail, and deny access on DHO’s. Let’s look at some issues the Raptors had:

Defending DHO’s

This was one of the more minor issues the Raptors had defensively in this game, but an issue nonetheless. The Raptors try to deny access to the DHO if possible, but if not, they chase it hard over top with the big dropping (similar to balls screens). You’ll notice in these clips that the guard can’t deny access, and the big is never in position to drop.

Back Door Cuts

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Raptors like to deny one pass away when possible. The Trail Blazers took advantage of the Raptors overplaying on the wing and had success on back door cuts.

Defending Off-Ball Screens

You’ll notice a few different types of screens in these clips – down screens, staggers away, flair screens – all of which the Raptors struggled with. They often seemed confused about what they wanted to do on the staggers and flair screens, as in some cases they switched and some they didn’t, which led to easy looks at the rim. On simple down screens, the Raptors struggled (again) with losing separation and allowing the Portland guards to soft curl with success.

Poor Closeouts

The Raptors have been very good this year off the ball defensively, and I have commented many times at their level of awareness, and how well they stay in stance, while doing so. In the clips above, you’ll notice in every situation that the defender responsible for the closeout is either out of stance, realizes that they have to close out too late, or closes out half-way and doesn’t fully contest the shot. This aspect of the Raptors defensive performance hurt the most, as these poor closeouts from above led to 18 points, some which came at crucial times in the fourth quarter.

Offense

As good as the Raptors have been in transition, in the first half they weren’t able to generate the type of scoring oppurtunities that they have relied on out of their transition game. They were much better in the second half, but most of their success came in the last 4 minutes, which consisted of making some very difficult shots.

The major issue the Raptors had in this game was figuring out what they wanted to do in the half court to create advantages. Without Lowry, and without success in the transition game, the Raptors seemed like they either weren’t certain of their plan on a handful of possessions, or they just couldn’t create. Check out these examples:

As you watch these clips, watch them from the perspective of trying to figure out what the Raptors intentions are on each possession. Usually, it is quite clear in the half court how the Raptors are attacking their opponent – going at their big in the ball screens, isolating their matchup (usually Kawhi) in the post, running staggers for a shooter, etc., however they uncharacteristically had many possessions in this game where it didn’t seem like they had a solid plan of attack. Also, notice how some of the plays end – Danny Green coming off a ball screen, OG trying to go 1 on 1 from the perimeter, or Green/Miles being forced into highly contested, bail out 3’s.

As the game progressed, the Raptors started to find success in certain actions. As they have all year, the Raptors began to successfully create advantage situations in the ball screen against Portland’s dropping big:

You’ll notice in these clips that the Trail Blazers are trying to “weak” the ball screen (keeping the ball handler to their weak hand). Once the Raptors figured this out, they had success with their guards, specifically Kawhi, getting downhill against the big and creating at the rim. You’ll notice two other clips with FFV involved, one of which Monroe changes his angle on the ball screen to hit Curry up top in which FVV walks into a 3, and another situation where the Raptors get FVV hitting the ball screen with pace, preventing the Blazers from denying access in which Monroe scores on the roll.

An action that the Raptors continually found success with through the second half was the FVV/Kawhi ball screen, in which they initially ran with Kawhi setting the screen, but eventually adjusted to have FVV set the screen:

The Raptors have used this action throughout the year with Lowry and Kawhi, but I don’t recall them using it as often as they did in this game. You can see the progression’s that the Blazers go through trying to figure out how to handle this action; at first they switch and get burned on the drive, then they switch and get burned on the ISO with Kawhi at the high post, then they get rejected in anticipation of the screen, and eventually they settle on hedging the ball screen and trying to keep the same matchups. This is one of the few times the Raptors had the Trail Blazers guessing throughout the game.

Notes

Nick Nurse and his staff made the bold decision to double Lillard in the fourth quarter last night (and at the end of the first half as well) and get the ball out of his hands. While I understand the thought behind it (don’t let an elite finisher make the shots) I didn’t think Lillard was unstoppable to the point where this was a necessary move. In the last 2:30 of the game, it costs the Raptors 9 very important points.

Before Siakam went down, this is the most difficult a team has given him with regards to his ability to create in the half court. While he was able to hit a couple 3’s, he was’t as successful as he has been creating which is likely due to a larger focus on him (especially with Lowry being one less player to prepare for).